They wanted a voice.

This week the Canadian Government will take a vote on the Citizenship Act. I have been following closely. Bill C-3 is the latest iteration seeking to allow so-called "Lost Canadians" to claim their citizenship. The tap root, if you will, is heritage: The root that connects families through lineage from one generation to the next. The current law limits that lineage to first generation Canadians. How do you limit lineage? Pas possible! The final vote by the Senate is in debate as I write. It begs the question: What does it mean to be a citizen?

The Canadian debate is playing out in Parliament while simultaneously American citizenship is under violent attack in the streets. How we got here is our collective story. If you want a complete version of that history, Ken Burns' documentary: The American Revolution can be seen this week on PBS. The irony, of course, is that Public Broadcasting Stations have been eliminated from federal government funds. And, that is exactly where the American story began: Breaking with government.

It took a while, but those who fought for freedom, ordinary folks like you and me, stood up and took their shot(s) for the rest of us. They made a valiant effort against the British crown in Quebec City, home to my maternal grandparents.

That city is an impenetrable citadel that has served the people within its walls well for centuries. That wall should not keep out their own in the twenty-first century. "A Canadian, is a Canadian, is a Canadian", someone said. It could not be any clearer than that.

While they proceed to the vote on my, and many other generational citizenships, it evokes painful comparisons for those who do not wish to be citizens in places where they were born. When a person cannot live in peace and safety in the homeland, what else can be done but try to find a better home. The original colonists (rightly named) were immigrants seeking freedom from oppression, freedom from religious persecution, freedom, period. It would have been well and good had they arrived from their trans-atlantic sail to settle in a new homeland while leaving behind the King. As we know, the King had no intentions of letting the people go, no matter what. Kings are like that!

Many people knew their arduous decision to leave the homeland was just the beginning. Freedom was another thing. All they wanted was a voice. "Give me liberty, or give me death", turned the tide from an ongoing debate in Parliament to standing up for what was and is right. Liberty, Patrick Henry pointed out, is a pursuit, "a holy cause". These words were spoken not in a government house, but in a house of God, St. John's Church in Richmond, Virginia,*giving the patriotic Henry the freedom he sought to speak the truth. His inspired words, in essence were free speech that led others to follow what inevitably became the American Revolution against the British Empire. The beginning came in the town of Lexington, Massachusetts where I lived for a time.

"The birthplace of American Liberty" is represented by the Minute-man statue standing over the green in the middle of town. Each year, today's minute-men recreate that first "shot heard 'round the world". It is a powerful demonstration of the pursuit of liberty in action. We, too, are in pursuit. We want what they wanted: a voice. When that is taken, there is no liberty or justice for all, or any.

*ebsco.co Analysis: Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death